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Top Medical News
The rates of hospitalization and early readmission are high among patients with decompensated cirrhosis, according to a study. Furthermore, an early readmission to an acute care hospital is an independent risk factor for mortality in such patients for at least 1 year following initial hospitalization.
Management of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) through a multidisciplinary tumour board (MDTB) results in significantly higher rates of receipt of therapy and improved survival, according to a recent study.
There appears to be an increased relative risk of small bowel adenocarcinomas in Crohn’s disease (CD) and of small bowel neuroendocrine tumours in both CD and ulcerative colitis, a study suggests.
There are marked increases in the diagnosis of adenomas in the right colon with the use of colonoscopy with right-sided retroflexion compared with conventional colonoscopy, according to a recent study. In addition, the procedure has a high rate of manoeuvre success and small risk of adverse events.
There appears to be an association between waterpipe tobacco smoking and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD), which is a known risk factor for oesophageal adenocarcinoma, a study has shown.
A recent study has found that food bolus impaction or strictures predict most episodes of oesophageal perforation, a rare but serious complication of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) that occurs in about 2 percent of cases. This suggests that patients with fibrostenotic disease due to longer duration of symptoms are at increased risk.
New drug applications approved by US FDA as of 1 - 15 September 2017 which includes New Molecular Entities (NMEs) and new biologics. It does not include Tentative Approvals. Supplemental approvals may have occurred since the original approval date.
Special Reports
DUKORAL – Inactivated Vibrio cholerae O1 serogroup & recombinant cholera toxin B subunit (WC/rCTB) vaccine (oral) – AJ Biologics
At the recent Asian Pacific Digestive Week (APDW) 2016 held in Kobe, Japan, three prominent international experts shared their views on gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and the challenges of its management.
Recently, randomized controlled trials and guidelines have brought to light the benefits of extending the duration of H. pylori treatment. Below are summaries of guidelines and trials examining the regimens used to manage the infection.
At the recent Annual Scientific Congress of the Malaysian Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (GUT 2016), held at Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, an expert from Hong Kong spoke on the role of direct-acting antivirals as well as pan-genotypic agents that are set to revolutionize hepatitis C treatment.
Sorafenib appears to be well-tolerated in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), with the subgroup of Child-Pugh B patients having a shorter treatment duration and higher serious adverse event (SAE) incidence, according to the results of a subgroup analysis of GIDEON*.
An expert panel meeting on hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) was recently convened in Kuala Lumpur with the aim of discussing management practices in different hospital settings. Chaired by Professor Sanjiv Mahadeva, consultant gastroenterologist, University Malaya Medical Centre, the meeting saw local and regional experts share HRS cases they have encountered in their practice.
As its name suggests, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which encompasses ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, involves chronic inflammation of the digestive tract. IBD is a common disease in the West, afflicting more than 5 million people.2 Although IBD is still rare in Southeast Asia, the incidence appears to be on the rise in Malaysia, with a rate of 0.67 per 100,000 population.3 It is noteworthy that early detection and management of IBD can reduce a significant amount of pain and stress for patients. Thus, general practitioners (GPs), who are experts trained to work in the front line of a healthcare system, play a vital role in reducing the burden of IBD through immediate referral of suspected IBD patients for specialist investigations.
Conference Reports
Pearl Toh finds out from Professor Anna Lok, director of clinical hepatology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, on integrating guidelines, research data, and clinical setting in decision making for management of hepatitis B during the recent Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver Annual Meeting held in Shanghai, China.
Add-on of pegylated interferon (pegIFN) to nucleos(t)ide analogues (NA) therapy may be a better strategy than a switch from NA to pegIFN in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) who are on long-term NA therapy, according to data from an interim analysis of the SWAP* study presented at the recent Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver Annual Meeting (APASL 2017) held in Shanghai, China.
The goal of treatment for portal hypertension varies depending on the different stages and substages of cirrhosis, and hence, pharmacological therapies for managing portal hypertension should be considered in the context of other complications of cirrhosis, according to a presentation at the recent APASL 2017 held in Shanghai, China recently.
Slideshow: Highlights from the 26th Conference of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL), Shanghai, China, February 15 - 19.
The use of statins is associated with a lower risk of pyogenic liver abscess, according to a Taiwan population-based case-control study.
Individuals with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection who achieve a sustained virological response (SVR) have improved liver stiffness and a lower risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), according to a presentation at the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver annual meeting (APASL 2017) in Shanghai, China.
An 8- to 16-week treatment regimen of elbasvir/grazoprevir plus sofosbuvir with or without ribavirin appears to be highly effective and well tolerated in both treatment-naïve and treatment-experienced cirrhotic patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 3 (GT3) infection, according to the results of the C-ISLE study presented at the 26th Conference of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL) held in Shanghai, China.
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